Members of the LGBT community in Thailand gather in front of a bar in Bangkok on June 18, 2016 during a vigil for victims of the worst mass shooting in modern US history in Orlando, Florida. (AFP Photo/Lillian Suwanrumpha)
Thailand government was proposed a law change by the joint research programme between Thammasat University's Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Social Administration that will allow gender certification in order to increase legal support for the LGBT community, Bangkok Post reported.
Matalak Orungrote, associate professor at the Faulty of Law at Thammasat University, stated that this change will allow Thai citizens to choose their identifying gender that affects their legal obligations such as conscription. The programme supporting this change studied sexual orientation issues from 14 countries, including US, UK, and France. Orungrote says that the research would improve the Gender Certification Act's overall quality as well as minimizing the risk of unequal treatment and loopholes.
She added that a seminar discussing the act, has failed to gain support from several organizations that was required for cooperation.
Thailand's Gender Equality Act passed in March and implemented in September 2015, however the associate professor commented that it is not a one-stop solution to provide equal rights fot the LGBT community.
"If we make a law that will certify a person's gender of their choice would support many pre-existing laws," she added. With "too many acts" in Thailand, the Gender Certification Act would reduce the necessity to mend a number of them and allow LGBTs more rights in the future. Orungrote said if LGBTs have to persist in filing complaints on gender titles, they will continue the effors to change current acts, other laws included.
Many individuals of the LGBT community have limitied knowledge about the Gender Equality Act, leaving them unaware of who to file complaints when faced with discrimination, she added. The act states that individuals who are subject to discrimination or abuse related to their gender may file a formal complaint to the Committee on Consideration of Unfair Gender Discrimination, the committee is headed by a chairman and features at most 10 members.
However, the act's legal process needs to be improved. Orungrote said that the limitations are based on the committe's ability to connect discrimination cases to hate crimes, which in Thailand has more severe penalties compared to regular crimes. Additionally, many of the cases examined may be treated too generally, slowing down the legal process for the LGBT community.
Viroj Tangvarnich, Thai television personality and scholar, also spoke at the seminar in support of the proposed new act. Tangvarnich stated that many Thais do not understand LGBTs and relied on social stereotypes. "People think this is a choice, but I didn't choose to be this way. I was born like it," he said, being part of the LGBT community.